Posts Tagged With: art

As a photographer (and by that I mean someone who always has her camera, not necessarily a great visual artist), I sometimes get caught up in how the world looks through a frame. There’s a lot of self-imposed pressure when presented with the task of documenting new places. I feel a need to capture every single sight and moment in order to share it, and also to look back on it in the future.

The truth is, there is no pressure. My friends and family probably will get the gist after five or six pictures from the same location, and I will need a despicable amount of time in my future to ever skim the surface of all of the shots I have taken for self-preservation. But never-the-less, I continue to feel a sense of paranoia that the one shot I miss will be the one shot I wish I had.

Vienna is a city where anyone, paranoid paparazzi or not, could get caught up in snapping away until they develop carpal tunnel syndrome via the shutter release. It’s not just that the architecture is breathtaking. There are so many cities that boast dramatic buildings and monuments. It is that there are literally stunning structures around every single corner. Apartment buildings, schools, restaurants, anything. Everywhere you look there are intricately decorated buildings that would demand a gate and entrance fee, or at least a really big plaque, if they were to exist in an American city. But in Vienna, it’s just part of your normal street scene.

So anyways, long story short, when Chris offered to take the camera for our main day of sightseeing, I was excited, although a little skeptical, to get to see the city without worrying about what shutter speed would be best for a certain lighting. To be honest, it was liberating walking around and just looking to appreciate, rather than to scope out the next shot. And if there’s any city that deserves full appreciation, it’s Vienna. An added bonus is, that now that Chris has taken on a role as part-time photographer, and done very well I might add, I will start to appear in some pictures.

So here they are: Chris’ ingenious photographic interpretations of Vienna, while I just watched, enjoyed and took it all in. Except of course, when everything was just perfect and I just couldn’t help myself 🙂

Dramatic sculptures in the Belvedere Palace gardens

Dramatic interpretations of statues in the Belvedere Palace Gardens

Cheesy couple picture in front of tourist attractions. Sometimes you just have to.

I’ve driven past the sign for Griffis Sculpture Park hundreds of time on my way to Buffalo. The aging wooden advertisement accompanied by a primary colored structure along US Route 219 in Ashford, NY always mildly interested me. However time never allowed me to actually venture off-course and view these alleged sculptures. But this week, when I finally made the turn off the main route, I found the sculpture park, which holds the distinction of being one of the largest and oldest in the country, to be an otherworldly experience.

The two park locations act as an outdoor art museum. Larger-than-life sculptures loom in open fields and others peek from between the trees besides paths in the woods. Such unique structures in such an unsuspected location can leave visitors feeling as though they stumbled upon something almost extraterrestrial. Art set against the backdrop of the natural environment is rarely seen at such a large scale and is most definitely worth the detour to Griffis Sculpture Park.